Why are men and women socialized to be dependant on each other?
I think that women are far more socialized to be dependent on men than vice versa. I also disagree that families without a parent of each gender are “destabilized.” This is not the case at all. Single mothers and fathers and divorcees and the few scattered same-sex couples raise upstanding, caring, compassionate boys and girls much of the time. And some married parents raise criminals. My grandparents did. It is interesting, isn’t it, that tomboys – girls picking up traditionally male characteristics and skills – are more than acceptable today, but that tomGIRLS are still not. This implies that masculinity continues to assert itself as superior. When men still get laughed at for wearing skirts but women don’t for wearing overalls, the underlying message is that there’s still something funny and silly about the feminine. Why? No, there isn’t. Not until this attitude stops will we be closer to gender equality. (On the other hand, I think that so many things men have invented for women –
